Merkel and Chirac see EU treaty solution by end-2008

Germany and France said on Tuesday the European Union would set its stalled constitution back on track over an 18-month period beginning with Berlin's presidency in the first half of 2007.
French and Dutch rejections of the constitution in referendums last year plunged the bloc into one of the deepest crises in its 50-year history.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Jacques Chirac, speaking at a joint press conference following talks in the eastern German town of Rheinsberg, said the bloc first needed a "period of reflection".
Germany would begin reviving the treaty when it assumes the rotating presidency of the 25-nation bloc in the first half of 2007, they said.
"Then over an 18-month period, until the French presidency, we must come to decisions. We know that Europe needs this constitution to function," Merkel said.
"It particularly needs new rules as far as the institutions are concerned," she said.
The treaty was aimed at streamlining decision-making in the EU following its expansion into eastern Europe, but fears over further enlargement, notably plans to open membership talks with Turkey, led voters to reject it.
All 25 members must approve the charter for it to be adopted.
Merkel has strong reservations about Turkish membership but has not stood in the way of Ankara's EU entry talks. She said she agreed with Chirac that the bloc needed to take a close look at whether it was in a position to take on any more countries.
"That does not mean we will go back on existing commitments, but the European Union's ability to integrate (new members) will be a theme that gains in importance," she said.
Chirac, who suffered a devastating blow when French voters went against his recommendation and vetoed the treaty in May 2005, is not expected to be in office when work on reviving the treaty begins in earnest.
EU foreign ministers who met in Vienna last month acknowledged that there was no chance of rescuing the treaty before elections next year in France and the Netherlands.
That gives Merkel a narrow window of a few weeks at the end of the German presidency to kick-start the charter.
Chirac dismissed charges that Europe had "broken down" following the French "non" vote, noting that the bloc had agreed a budget in December and developed the outlines of a common energy policy.